Scientific Program Committee

Sašo Ivanovski - Chair

BDSc (Hons), BDentSt, MDSc (Perio), PhD, FICD, FADI

Saso Ivanovski is a clinician-scientist who completed a PhD at The University of Queensland in 2000, followed by specialist clinical training (MDSc) and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute for Molecular Biosciences. In 2006, he was appointed the inaugural Chair and Professor of Periodontology at Griffith University and subsequently served as Deputy Head of School (Research). In 2017, Saso returned to The University of Queensland School of Dentistry as Professor of Periodontology and Director of Research. Saso has published over 130 articles in the peer-reviewed international literature and leads a research group with an interest in dental regeneration, additive manufacturing, tissue engineering and oral implantology.

Richard Cannon

Richard Cannon is the Director of the Sir John Walsh Research Institute, the research arm of the University of Otago Faculty of Dentistry. Richard is Professor of Molecular Microbiology and his research is focused on how microorganisms cause oral diseases and how treatments for patients with these diseases can be improved. His research has a number of themes, one being oral adhesion. He is interested in how oral microbes, particularly yeast, adhere and colonize surfaces in the oral cavity. A major focus of his research is how to overcome the drug resistance of human fungal pathogens.

Stuart Dashper

Stuart is Professor of Oral Microbiology and Director of Research in the Melbourne Dental School and Deputy Director of the new Oral Health Research Centre at the University of Melbourne. He has been characterizing the polymicrobial nature of chronic oral diseases, particularly periodontal diseases and dental caries, for over 25 years and is an author on approximately 100 research publications and a named inventor on eight patents, many of which have been licensed for development.

He has applied a systems biology approach to his studies employing a range of techniques including microbiomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics. He has conducted a number of longitudinal cohort studies to determine the causes of microbiome-mediated oral diseases. The long-term aim of his studies is to develop novel strategies for the early prediction, prevention and treatment of oral diseases, including the development of novel prognostic biomarkers of disease and new antimicrobials. His research has been continuously funded by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council since 1999 and he is on the editorial boards of a number of the top dental research journals.

Amr Fawzy

Amr is a clinician scientist by education, training and experience. After completion of his BDS in Cairo University, Amr has continued to pursue an academic career. After finishing his Master’s degree in Prosthodontics (2000) and PhD in Biomaterials (2005), he worked as a faculty member at Ain Shams University School of Dentistry in Cairo. Amr moved to the Faculty of Dentistry, the National University of Singapore in 2010 being appointed in the Department of Restorative Dentistry and later the Discipline of Oral Sciences as an Assistant Professor. Since 2012, he has been directing the Dental Biomaterials teaching and research program at National University of Singapore until moved to UWA Dental School in Nov 2017. He is currently leading the “Biomaterials and Nano-Dentistry” research group and a Senior Lecturer at UWA Dental School.

Amr has long teaching experience of Dental Materials, Adhesive and Restorative Dentistry. He also supervised several PhD, MS and postgraduate students through his career. He has established research track record and experience regarding Dental Biomaterials & Bioengineering with numerous high impact publications and several successful grant funding.

Amr’s research is multidisciplinary in nature and focuses on linking biomaterials science to applied dentistry. His work regarding the biomodification of dental hard tissues and employing nano-carriers for drug delivery to the dentin-resin interface has been extensively published and featured in the last five years in the top dental related journals. Additionally, his recent work on surface functionalised metallic and ceramic nanoparticles has explored other potential applications of “Nano-Dentistry” in relation to restorative and regenerative dentistry. Amr’s research work, in collaboration with engineering colleagues, has also been extended to other lines such as the interaction of high intensity focused ultrasound with dental hard tissues for biofilm removal and surface treatment; chemical modification of resin-based and polymeric restorative materials for enhancing their properties; and 3D printing of cell scaffolds and dentin-like structures for potential regenerative dentistry applications.

Stephen Hamlet

BSc, MSc, PhD

Stephen Hamlet is a Research Fellow in the Menzies Health Institute Queensland at Griffith University. He is actively involved in cell biology research examining the immunomodulatory effects of biomaterials and the utilisation of advanced additive manufacturing techniques for tissue regeneration applications. Stephen is a regular presenter at the International Association for Dental Research general session and has around 70 publications. Stephen currently supervises 1 Honour’s and 8 PhD students.

Omar Kujan

Dr Omar Kujan is a Senior Lecturer, lead discipline of Oral Pathology, Research Coordinator at the UWA Dental School, University of Western Australia. He has over 60 peer-reviewed articles, in addition to several book chapters and other publications on the topics of oral cancer, potentially malignant disorders, oral diseases and dental education. Clinically, he has interest in epithelial pathology. He serves the scientific community as reviewer for many prestigious journals and he contributes to the editorial board of two international journals. In his current endeavor, he chairs the scientific committee of the IADR ANZ Division annual meeting in Perth, 2018.

Ryan Lee

Ryan Lee is a Senior Lecturer in Periodontology at the University of Queensland School of Dentistry where he teaches the undergraduate and postgraduate specialist training programs in periodontology. Ryan is also a part-time PhD candidate at Griffith University, researching the effects of different implant surface characteristics on osseous healing and early inflammation in diabetic conditions. He is also involved in numerous clinical and pre-clinical research projects, collaborating with national and international institutes. He has published in peer-reviewed international journals and lectures nationally and internationally. Ryan is a diplomat of the European Federation of Periodontology (EFP). He served as a treasurer for Queensland and Federal branch of Australian Society of Periodontology.

Karen Peres

Karen Peres is a dentist, Master in Paediatric Dentistry, Master in Public Health and PhD in Public Health (Epidemiology). She is an Associate Professor in Dentistry, School of Dentistry and Oral Health, at Griffith University, Australia. Her main research interests are in the epidemiology of oral diseases, particularly in social inequality in oral health and life course. Over the years she has been coordinating National Oral Health Surveys worldwide and oral health studies nested in the Pelotas (Brazil) birth cohort studies. She is a member of the South Pacific Child Oral Health Taskforce since September 2014 and of the Research Advisory committee of the Australian Dental Research Foundation Inc. since February 2015. Karen is a CI of the ongoing National Study of Adult Oral Health. Karen has supervised more than 20 Honours, Masters and PhD students, published 134 peer reviewed papers, and 14 book chapters. Her work has received more than 7,000 citations, an H index of 51 (Google Scholar).

Sarbin Ranjitkar

BDS, BScDent (Hons), PhD

Sarbin Ranjitkar is the Treasurer for the IADR, ANZ Division. He is appointed as a senior lecturer in dental materials in the Adelaide Dental School, University of Adelaide and also maintains a part-time clinical practice. He teaches adhesive materials, biology of occlusion and head and neck anatomy in the undergraduate dental program and supervises research projects at postgraduate level. He is involved with structural, mechanical and chemical characterisation of bioceramic materials (including enamel, dentine and bone), with implications in the fields of dental erosion and craniosynostosis. Sarbin has been involved with the IADR since 1998 when he joined as an undergraduate student. He was a recipient of the Oral Biology Award from the Division in 2014.

Laurie Walsh

Professor Laurence Walsh is based at the University of Queensland School of Dentistry in Brisbane, where he is the research group leader in advanced materials and technologies, and the discipline lead for special needs dentistry. The work of his research group is interdisciplinary and has a strong focus on translation to clinical practice. He has published widely on the use of novel materials, diagnostic devices and treatment technologies, and overseen laboratory studies and human clinical trials, with over 300 journal publications.

Munira Xaymardan

Dr Munira Xaymardan is a senior lecturer and the Head of Discipline of Oral Biosciences at the Dental School of Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney. Dr Xaymardan is a scientific board member of ADRF, and an academic consultant to the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute. She has been serving in the Organising Committee for NSW Developmental Biology Conference since 2017. Her research interest has been in the area of stem cells and developmental biology. She is a regular presenter at national and international conferences and has published number of book chapters and over 20 articles in peer-reviewed journals.

Yin Xiao

Professor Yin Xiao is a professor in Bone and Tissue Engineering at Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology (QUT). He is the Director of Australia-China Centre for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine and a group leader of the bone and clinical research program. He obtained his BDSc and MDSc from Wuhan University (Hubei Medical University), China, with more than 10 years clinical experience. In 2000, he graduated with a PhD from School of Dentistry at the University of Queensland, Australia, and worked as a research officer there for two years following his graduation. This was followed by an NHMRC Peter Doherty Fellowship at the School of Life Sciences at the QUT. In 2004 he was awarded an NHMRC Visiting Fellowship for 6 month at the Bone Tissue Engineering Centre at the University of Carnegie Mellon, PA, USA. During this period (2003–2007) he was also appointed an Honorary Research Advisor to the School of Dentistry, UQ. In 2012 he was appointed a Professor of Bone Biology and Tissue Engineering at the Department of Biomedical Engineering at QUT and has been appointed to a number of honorary senior positions in several Universities, including currently an adjunct professor at Griffith University and three Chinese universities: Wuhan University in Wuhan; Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, and Fujian Medical University in Fuzhou.